Disclosed herein are various embodiments for high performance wireless data transfers. In an example embodiment, laser chips are used to support the data transfers using laser signals that encode the data to be transferred. The laser chip can be configured to (1) receive a digital signal and (2) responsive to the received digital signal, generate and emit a variable laser signal, wherein the laser chip comprises a laser-emitting epitaxial structure, wherein the laser-emitting epitaxial structure comprises a plurality of laser-emitting regions within a single mesa structure that generate the variable laser signal. Also disclosed are a number of embodiments for a photonics receiver that can receive and digitize the laser signals produced by the laser chips. Such technology can be used to wireless transfer large data sets such as lidar point clouds at high data rates.